Written by David Hertz, Chair of Comparative Literature

Professor Eugene Eoyang passed away in the fall of 2021. He was one of the great comparatists and the first Chinese American to serve as president of the American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA). He was also the author of many books and essay on comparative literature, east-west literary relations, Chinese poetry, translations, and many other interdisciplinary topics.

Over the years, I collaborated with Professor Eoyang on many projects and I always found them to be rewarding and fun. Among the best of these projects was our effort to collect  a series of  papers on the most universal topic we could identify. We eventually gathered up a series of scholarly papers on the theme of “mutability” in poetry, including poems from Nahuatl, German, French, Italian, Chinese, Arabic, and more. Many of them were published in the Yearbook of Comparative Literature, which is now published by the University of Toronto Press.

Recently, I also learned that Eugene and Pat Eoyang have been philanthropists for many years, endowing a number of fellowships in the Office of International Studies that have helped many students from overseas attend Indiana University.

Professor Eoyang’s teaching reached a wide audience, which, considering his many interests, is completely understandable. One of Eugene’s gifted students, jazz professor and pianist Luke Gillespie, who teaches in the IU Jacobs School of Music, organized a special memorial concert in February 2022. Those of us who attended heard some jazz, and chamber music by Schubert and Brahms. The performances were fabulous.

Most memorable were the comments that Eugene Eoyang arranged to be released upon the occasion of the memorial concert. I’ll include an excerpt here: “I have asked my friend (and former student Luke Gillespie) to organize the concert, because instead of being remembered with sadness and sorrow, I wish to be remembered with joy and enjoyment, as I did on the many Sunday afternoons in which I attended chamber concerts in Auer Hall performed by the superb musicians of the Jacobs School of Music.” Professor Eoyang then went on to explain why he requested each piece that was to be performed.  Then he concluded with the following: “Now, as the New York waitresses are fond of saying: Enjoy!”

A party at the University Club in the Indiana Memorial Union followed.

This was a superb way to celebrate a great life, as organized by the person who lived it.